Updated at 11:57 p.m., Monday, August 13, 2007
North shore brushfire has burned over 3,000 acres
Advertiser Staff
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The Honolulu Fire Department advised residents of Otaki and Ranch camps and a Catholic Benedictine monastery to prepare for evacuation but no evacuation had occurred by 10:30 p.m.
The camps and monastery are located behind Waialua Intermediate & High School, which is not being threatened. The school's position is defensible, HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said, "and our concern right now is for the safety of the residents."
The fire, which started at 1:41 p.m. yesterday below Paomoho Estates near the University of Hawai'i Experimental Farm on the Kahuku side of Kaukonahua Road, eventually jumped the roadway and has burned its way through the gulches to the mountainside.
Firefighters have been battling flareups on the Kahuku side of Kaukonahua Road all day as well as the fire on the opposite side.
Seelig estimated the fire has burned over 3,000 acres, making it one of the largest brushfires on O'ahu in recent years.
Twenty-five HFD and six federal companies battled the brushfire today.
As of 10:30 p.m. the firefighters are in a defensive mode due to darkness, having set up a perimeter to protect proptery should the fire suddenly spread quickly.
